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49ers David Akers Opens Up About Kicking Woes

For anyone who hasn’t heard by the now, the 49ers are going to the Super Bowl. They bring with them David Akers, a kicker who missed a league high 13 field goals this years.

David Akers has played in the NFL for 14 years and has a career field goal percentage of 81. He is arguably the greatest kicker of all time.

Even better, He was coming off a season where he made a NFL record 44 field goals. This is the kicker any team would want in the Super Bowl.

Except this year.

The year started great for Akers. In the season opener against the Green Bay Packers he tied the league record with a 63-yard field goal. As his season downward spiraled he had to delete his Twitter account because he was receiving death threats.

Before the playoffs began the 49ers signed veteran kicked Billy Cundiff to compete with Akers for the job. Akers won, then missed a chip shot 38-yard field goal in the NFC Championship game against the Falcons.

It’s safe to say this is not how Akers imagined his season going. He recently sat down with Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area to discuss his less than perfect year:

“I felt good all year. Just doing the same thing in practice we’ve done all year. And wish those points would’ve counted in games. I had a great practice season, and training camp and pre-games. So it’s one of those things.”

He adds:

“It’s been a head-scratcher. But I’m still going to be positive about going into this game, 60 minutes away from possibility of being a world champion.”

And he then he lets fans know he’s just as frustrated as they are:

“You look at the kicks, it’s so minute on how far they’re off. We’re talking inches on a lot of kicks. That’s a frustrating thing because an inch is a mile in our game, from 63 hitting the pole and going over to hitting the top of the eyelet last week. One’s in and one’s out. One’s a record breaker and one doesn’t tie the game.”

If the Super Bowl comes down to a field goal kick by Akers, it may just be he most dramatic field goal in the history of the NFL.

What do you think? Should David Akers be the 49ers kicker going into the Super Bowl?